Mysuru has always been a city resplendent with art and culture, which is not at all surprising because it has always been the seat of royalty since ancient times. And, so this rich heritage has always been a part of our existence here and thankfully, it has only been getting richer and richer, as the years roll on.
We have every reason to feel proud that even to this day, every generation of Mysureans continues to produce at least half a dozen highly accomplished musicians or artistes of different genres.
Our Maharajas and Maharanis too, have always been very ardent admirers and patrons of almost every kind of fine art, with a good many of them being very able composers and even capable musicians themselves. Their courts were always adorned by the presence of the best artistes of the contemporary era and their court halls have always had strains of their soulful music echoing from them. It is only in continuation of this glorious tradition that our Dasara which has just ended, continues to be a festival which sees musical concerts every evening in the durbar hall of our regal Amba Vilas Palace, all through the nine-day festival.
The public of Mysuru too has always been very receptive to music and we therefore see many formal and informal musical events taking place in our city quite frequently. And, we Mysureans are all set to see one such performance, the coming Sunday (Oct. 20), at the Rani Bahadur Auditorium on Hunsur Road. The uniqueness of this event is that it will be a concert of songs sung exclusively by Dr. Seethalakshmi and Dr. Somanath Vasudeva, who are married not only to each other but also to music!
Originally hailing from Kochi, they have now happily made Mysuru their home, over the past twenty-two years, ever since they joined the Apollo BGS Hospital as Anesthesiologist and Neurologist, respectively. Dr. Seetha had been singing from her early school days and had been winning prizes very regularly, while Dr. Somanath with his love for music had been unfailingly winning the first prize at almost all inter-medical-college musical events, for his prowess as a classical violinist.
This is not surprising because Karnatak music was the passion of both his parents too. Although this is their first performance, where only the two of them will be singing, Dr. Seetha and Dr. Somanath are not new to music loving audiences here in our city. As most Mysureans know, they have become very familiar as a singing duo from the dozens of musical events in which they have been participating regularly, the most notable among them being the immensely popular doctors’ musical event, Geeth Gaatha Chal, that is soon set to celebrate its silver jubilee.
The other similar events where Seetha and Somanath have set people’s hearts beating in tune to their songs are Gana Lahari and Geet Sangam.
But this time it is a very special event for them because it marks the realisation of their fondest and most cherished dream, which was to have an exclusive show of their own. And they are all set to make this dream come true, to our delight, on Oct. 20!
This event which starts at 5.15 pm, will be anchored by Aftab Ahmed, who too is well-known in music circles of our city. It is a free show, open to the music loving public.
This post was published on October 18, 2024 6:05 pm